


Frame By Frame

by zarrati



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: F/M, honeymoon fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-30
Updated: 2014-09-30
Packaged: 2018-02-19 07:39:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2380268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarrati/pseuds/zarrati
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In honor of Ben’s first day, Leslie gives him a special gift.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Frame By Frame

  

Between the gala, wedding, and honeymoon, the last few weeks were a whirlwind of activity for the Knope/Wyatt household. The honeymoon had been spectacular; days on end filled with historical sites, natural wonders, sandy beaches, and passionate lovemaking. But as many good things tend to do, it eventually came to an end.

For most people, this would signify a return to the dull and mundane routine that is daily life. But Leslie Knope and Ben Wyatt aren't most people. For Leslie, life as the Deputy Director of the Parks Department and Pawnee City Councilwoman is anything but dull and mundane, certainly not with her park finally being built and the upcoming Correspondent’s Lunch.

For Ben, coming home to Pawnee meant the start of his job as President of the new Sweetum’s Foundation. After his return from Washington, Ben longed to find a career more fulfilling than the monotonous number crunching he’d be doing at an accounting firm. He believed he found that with this job, utilizing his skills for the sole purpose of helping those in need.

On his first day, Ben awoke with a groan as his alarm angrily beeped at him from the night table. After silencing the offending noise, he stretched his hand to his wife’s side of the bed, not surprised to find it empty. He figured that she had been up for quite some time, knowing that her excitement over the Correspondent’s Lunch would prevent her from sleeping more than a few hours.

His assumption was almost immediately confirmed as he saw Leslie stroll into the room fully dressed and ready with a huge grin on her face. Despite his displeasure at being up so early, Leslie’s smile was contagious, and he immediately found himself mirroring it.

"Rise and shine lazy bones! You don't want to be late on your first day," she said as she sat on the edge of the bed and leaned in to kiss her husband good morning.

"Ew, morning breath," she teased as she pulled back with a scrunched nose.

“Oh, really?” Ben replied with a mischievous smile as he tightly wrapped his arms around Leslie and tried to breathe heavily into her face.

“No, Ben!” she cried between fits of giggles as she struggled against him in an attempt to keep her nose away from his offending mouth.

Ben relished in the sound of his wife’s laughter filling the room, letting out a satisfied sigh as he eventually released her.

"Please tell me there is coffee downstairs."

“It just finished brewing. I would have brought you up a cup, but you never like the way I prepare it for you,” she responded with a somewhat despondent folding of her arms.

“It's not that I don't appreciate the gesture, but not everyone likes it as sweet as you do. I swear, sometimes I think you have an uncontrollable compulsion to add sugar and whipped cream to everything.”

“I do not,” she retorted with a laugh, playfully slapping his shoulder. “But what a wonderful world we would live in if that were the case.”

“I can’t even begin to imagine.”

Leslie leaned in to give him another quick peck on the lips before patting him on his thigh. “Come on, that’s enough procrastinating. It’s time to get ready. I’ll meet you downstairs when you’re done.  I have a surprise for your first day. ”

She was up and out of the room before Ben even had a chance to question her. With a shake of his head, he pulled himself out of bed and made his way to the bathroom.

 

 

~~~

 

 

 

Thirty minutes later, Ben walked into the kitchen freshly showered, shaved, and wearing a suit that did not contain a trace of plaid. Leslie smiled up at him from the kitchen table as he poured himself a cup of coffee, notes for the Correspondent’s Lunch scattered in front of her.

“How is it coming?” Ben asked, walking over to her and taking a sip of the hot liquid.

“It’s coming along pretty well, I think. I have some really great material.”

“Sorry I can’t be more of a help today. Of all of the days for me to start my new job.”

“Don’t apologize,” Leslie admonished. “This is a huge deal for you. I will be perfectly fine. I’m going to run it by the department and get their feedback. Besides, I have some killer stuff in here.  I am going to slaughter those vultures at the _Pawnee Sun._ Kim Terlando won’t even know what hit her.”

Ben’s eyes scanned the table and saw a can sitting amongst the pile of papers. “Is that a can of Whoop Ass?”

“It is! I made it myself, and look at this!” Leslie’s eyes grew wide with excitement as she showed him the front of her file folder. “I put a Surgeon General’s Warning on it! Isn’t that great? I have everything planned out to the letter. This is going to be so perfect.”

Ben smiled at his wife’s obvious enthusiasm. “You really did think of everything. You’ll do an amazing job today, I know it. I just wish I could be there to support you.”

Leslie grabbed her husband’s hand and squeezed it lovingly as she smiled up at him. “I know you do, but don’t beat yourself up about it. I will have Ann and Chris and half of the department there with me.  You, Mr. Sweetum’s Foundation President,” she said with pride, “need to focus on your new job. I am so proud of you.”

Ben beamed at her as he leaned in for a kiss. “I’m proud of you too. Today is a big day for both of us,” he said taking a deep breath. “But everything will work out fine. It always does.”    

“Absolutely.”

Ben finished his coffee and checked his watch as he placed the mug into the sink. “I should probably get going soon. I wanted to be there a little early and check everything out.”

“Okay,” Leslie replied, and she started to gather her papers together. “I was going to head out soon too. I want to get to the office and start practicing my delivery.”

After Ben grabbed his messenger bag, he nonchalantly made his way back over to Leslie. “So about that surprise you said you had for me….”

Leslie laughed at his failed attempt to appear unenthused. “Don’t worry, I didn’t forget. Actually, I put it in your bag already, but you can’t open it until you get settled into your new office. I mean it. No peeking.” She emphasized the last two words by jabbing her finger into his shoulder.

“Okay, okay. I promise I won’t look.” He leaned in to give his wife a lingering kiss goodbye. “Good luck with your speech today. Let me know how it goes.”

“I will. Good luck to you too. Show them that you are more than just a cute face and great butt,” she said with a teasing grin.

Ben let out a roaring laugh and leaned in to kiss her once more. “I will do my best,” he replied still chuckling. “I love you. You’ll do great.”

“Thanks. I love you too. Now go before you’re late,” she shoved him playfully towards the door.

“Alright, I’m going,” he conceded, making his way to the front door. As he reached for the handle he quickly turned around. “Not even one little clue about the surprise?”

Leslie lifted her hand and pointed forcefully at the door. “Out!”

He smiled widely and blew her a kiss before finally leaving the house.

 

 

~~~

 

 

 

Ben let out a sigh as he stared at the pile of proposals that riddled his obscenely large office. “Well, I better get started,” he said to the empty room.

He sat at his desk and placed his bag down on top of it, eager to see what Leslie had given him. He unzipped his bag and saw a nicely wrapped package roughly the size of a small book. He gingerly unwrapped the box and was surprised to find a digital photo frame inside along with a note from Leslie.  


                    _Ben,_

_I just wanted to let you know how proud and how happy I am that you finally found a job that you’ll find both fulfilling and enjoyable. You have such a big heart, and I know that you will try your hardest to help as many people as you possibly can. Now, I wanted to get you the perfect something to add to your new office, and since I am the best gift giver ever, I know I found it. I remembered from visiting your office in Washington that you kept a picture of us on your desk. I wanted to get you a nice new frame and picture, but I just couldn’t decide which photo to use. Thankfully, a quick search on AltaVista solved my problem. Did you know that they make digital photo frames that can hold like 10,000 pictures?! ?!?! I am pretty sure that this is the greatest invention since the whipped cream can or candy necklaces._

_Anyway, I put as many pictures of us on here as I could find, which were a lot thanks to Ann and the rest of the Parks Department. (And before you look, no I didn’t put any of the slightly less than appropriate honeymoon pictures on here. If I am going to be President someday, I can’t have compromising photos of me floating around your office. Besides, it would be completely unprofessional to have pictures of your naked wife flashing across your desk at work.)_

Ben laughed at that line, looking around his office at the nude portraits of the Newports hanging on his wall. “If you only knew, Leslie,” he chuckled to himself.

_Apparently, this thing lets you go through the photos and either choose which one you want to have up all the time, or it has something called “slideshow mode” that automatically displays a different picture every few minutes. How amazing is that?! I bought two for myself, one for each office, although my photo selection varies slightly from yours. I may have a few more historical figures than you do, and of course, my “Top Ten Ben’s Butt 2012” slideshow. (Before you say anything, your butt is TOTALLY suitable for work, unlike some of your fanfiction stories you think I don’t know about.)_

_But anyway, I hope you like the pictures and have an amazing first day. I love you and I like you._

 

                                                                                                                                                Leslie  
  


Ben reread the note several times before storing it in his desk drawer, his fingers tracing the kiss monster that she drew next to her name. He grabbed the picture frame and began to look through the photos she had selected.

Leslie wasn’t kidding when she said that she had found a lot of pictures. They were mainly organized in chronological order and dated as far back as his first few weeks in Pawnee.

Unbeknownst to Ben at the time, someone had managed to snap a picture of the two of them at the Freddy Spaghetti concert those few years ago. As he stared at the photo, he saw just how apparent his feelings for Leslie were from the very beginning. The smile that graced his lips as she noted that “Mean Ben” had a soft spot was so obvious, that he wondered how no one picked up on his feelings for her sooner.

Scrolling through more photos, he saw dozens from various public forums, parties at the Snakehole, and of course, the Harvest Festival. He lingered on one photo in particular, one of him and Leslie taken just outside of Lil’ Sebastian’s pen. Ben was wearing his “I Met Lil’ Sebastian” t-shirt and had his arm tightly wrapped around Leslie’s shoulders.

He distinctly remembered Andy taking the picture, telling them to squeeze together in order to both fit in the frame. Leslie’s smile was enormous, which he attributed to her being drunk on the success of the Harvest Festival and of course, Lil’ Sebastian. Ben’s smile was equally as large, but he knew that Leslie was the reason behind it. That was the second time within 24 hours that he had gotten that close to her, and he couldn’t get enough.

Ben continued to browse, and he saw the pictures from the Department camping trip, April and Andy’s wedding, and Lil’ Sebastian’s memorial service.

Ben’s throat constricted as he noticed that there were significantly less photos during the time period that corresponded with their break up. Granted, there were a few snapshots of them at Leslie’s earlier campaign rallies and some from the Model UN meet, but it wasn’t the same.

His spirits lifted as he got to the plethora of pictures taken throughout the latter half of Leslie’s campaign, when he was her campaign manager and they no longer had to hide their relationship.  Several were taken at various campaign fundraisers and rallies, including a few from the now infamous bowling night.

By the time he got to the night that Leslie had won the election, Ben started to get slightly emotional. Everything that he had felt that night came rushing back to him as he saw their overjoyed faces, clearly looking more drunk as the celebration progressed.

The next several photos were taken during his time in Washington. Since it was normally just the two of them sightseeing, the majority of the shots were “selfies”, their faces squished together as they captured a national monument in the background.

Although he enjoyed his work in Washington, Ben would live for those scattered days and long weekends that he got to spend with Leslie. It was as though he was incomplete until he had her with him. In fact, it was that feeling that caused him to refuse the job in Florida, instead coming home to Pawnee to propose.

The post engagement photos followed suit, some taken only moments after she had accepted his proposal. “I need pictures to send to Ann ASAP,” she had argued as she snapped the twenty third picture of the day, trying to capture the two of them in a single shot while maneuvering her hand to catch the light reflecting off of her ring.

While he wanted nothing more than to take his new fiancé home and celebrate their engagement properly, her overwhelming excitement as she held her camera phone out in front of them warmed Ben’s heart, banishing any traces of annoyance.

He looked through the engagement party photos next, which came out surprisingly well considering the fact that they spent most of the night dealing with some major Wyatt family drama. The Knope/Wyatt Unity Quilt was a prominent staple in the background of most of these pictures.

Ben quickly made his way to the photos from the Pawnee Commons Gala. Leslie looked so gorgeous that night in her red dress and heels, her lips tinted to match her outfit. That evening had been magical; the adrenaline pulsing through him as a result of their success coupled with his beautiful fiancé’s admission prompted him to suggest they marry that very night.

He must have seen the wedding photos that followed several dozen times within the last few days, but he never tired of them. On the screen were glimpses into the greatest event of his life, moments frozen in time forever.

As he stared at the pictures, Ben realized that he had never seen either of them look so deliriously happy before. Throughout the entire night, he couldn’t resist touching Leslie; holding her in his arms, stealing brief kisses, and nuzzling her hair every chance that he could.

He eventually got to the wedding picture that he would have chosen to frame at his desk had Leslie not given him this ingenious gift. It was a candid photo of the two of them laughing on the bench in front of the wildflower mural. His arm was wrapped tightly around her, their faces positively beaming. The way in which she was sitting accentuated the skirt of her dress, and Ben swore that no one had ever looked more beautiful than his wife did at that very moment.

Ben stared at that picture for several more minutes before continuing on to the honeymoon photos. Hawaii was truly one of the most beautiful places that he had ever been to, the tropical landscape creating the perfect backdrop for so many of their pictures. Ben stopped briefly at the photo of Leslie in front of Barack Obama’s bus stop, wondering how the _Pawnee Sun_ managed to get their hands on it.

While he understood his wife’s refusal to include some of their more compromising honeymoon pictures, Ben was grateful that Leslie kept the photos of themselves on the beach.  His heart rate increased as he browsed through the stills of his wife in her bikini, her breasts and curves complimented by the cut of the fabric and her skin lightly bronzed by the sun.

Of course, his thoughts drifted to the photos that did not make it onto his digital frame. They were nowhere near the level of a Brandi Maxxx photoshoot, but they represented some of their more intimate moments during the honeymoon.

 

 

~~~

 

 

It had started out innocently enough, the couple taking advantage of the private patio attached to the secluded beach house they had rented. Ben had been reading on a lounge chair early one afternoon, hoping the few hours in the sun would at least make his skin go from its usual hue of pale white to a slightly more off white. Leslie was reclined on an adjacent lounger, clothed in her bathing suit and reading the copy of Barack Obama’s _Dreams of My Father_ that she had purchased at a Honolulu bookstore.

“Don’t you already have that book?” Ben had asked when he saw her walk out with it.

“Of course I do, but I didn’t buy that one at a bookstore that Barack Obama might have once shopped in,” she replied as though it was the most obvious answer in the world.

After about forty-five minutes of companionable silence, Leslie asked if Ben would help her reapply her sunscreen. As he started to rub the lotion up and down her body, Leslie began to comment on her unbridled hatred of tan lines.

“I mean they are completely horrible. You get a nice tint of color on most of your body and then BOOM, pasty whiteness. It looks so awkward in anything that isn’t cut _exactly_ like your bathing suit. It isn’t fair.”

“Why don’t you just take your suit off? It’s not like anyone could see you. The patio is completely closed off,” Ben replied casually, still rubbing the lotion on her back.

He felt Leslie’s body stiffen and she turned to look at him, her expression one of complete mortification.

“Did you seriously just suggest that I _get naked_ out in the open?”

“Yeah,” Ben said with a shrug of his shoulders. “I mean, we are completely secluded, and the walls are too high for anyone to see in anyway. Besides, it’s not anything I haven’t seen before,” he remarked with what Leslie calls his “patented sexy smirk.”

This time, however, Leslie remained unaffected by his flirtation. “But what if someone flies by in a helicopter and takes an aerial shot or something and runs it in the _Pawnee Sun_? They have it out for me, you know. I do NOT want to have a Princess Kate situation on my hands.”

Ben raised his hands in surrender. “Okay, I don’t want you to do anything that you don’t feel comfortable with. I just figured that it would be the perfect solution to your tan line problems. Besides, I highly doubt that any photographers from _The Sun_ followed us all the way to Hawaii.”

Leslie held her bottom lip between her teeth, her confliction clearly evident on her face. Ben could practically see the wheels turning in her head as she mentally drew up a pros and cons list.

After a few minutes, Leslie’s features softened. “You know what? You are absolutely right.”

A look of shock ran across Ben’s face. “Wait, seriously?”

“Yeah. Like you said, the house is pretty secluded, and even if it wasn’t, the walls are high enough to block any real view into the patio. It makes sense. That’s the only way I’ll eliminate any tan lines.”

Ben just stared at her; he had been convinced that she would have rejected his suggestion outright.

Leslie let out a small laugh at his appearance. “Well, are you going to untie my top or not? I mean your hands _are_ right there.”

Her words spurred him into action; his fingers clumsily untied the knots of her bikini top as Leslie pulled the bottoms down her legs. Once he finally managed to undo the last knot, Ben placed a searing kiss on her neck as he pulled the piece of clothing off of her.

Leslie reclined back in the lounger and closed her eyes, sighing as she felt the sun beat down upon her naked body.

“God, Ben, this was a fantastic idea. Thank you.”

But Ben did not respond. He sat rooted in his lounge chair, unable to tear his eyes away from her.

At his silence, Leslie opened one of her eyes to look in his direction, an amused smile gracing her lips as she saw his face.

“What’s the matter?” she questioned with a small laugh.

“You are so beautiful,” he whispered mostly to himself, mesmerized by the way the sun illuminated her most intimate parts.

Although he had said those words countless times before, the way in which he said them now made her insides flutter. She felt a small blush rise in her cheeks and she lowered her head in an attempt to hide it.

Her head jerked back up, however, when she heard him blurt out “CanItakeapictureofyou?”

“What?”

“Oh God, I can’t believe I said that. Nevermind. I am so sorry. Forget I ever mentioned it. It was stupid and I wasn’t thinking straight and you are just so God damn beautiful and-”

Leslie clearly saw the signs of Ben: Human Disaster rearing its ugly head, and she cut him off.

“Ben, stop. Calm down. Tell me what you said, but this time try separating your words.”

He took a deep, calming breath and began to speak, clearly humiliated by his actions. “I asked if I could take a picture of you. Which was completely inappropriate and wrong and I am so sorry. So let’s just forget I ever said anything, okay? Okay, good. So, I was thinking maybe seafood for dinner. What do you think?”

Instead of answering, Leslie reached over to the small table beside the chairs, grabbed the digital camera, and handed it to him.

A look of guilt overtook Ben’s face. “Leslie, we don’t have to do this. I was just being impulsive and not thinking rationally.”

“Well, today is a day for being impulsive. We are on our honeymoon in a secluded ocean front house in Hawaii, and I am lying naked in a lounge chair on an outdoor patio. Go big or go home, isn’t that what they say?”

Ben looked towards the ground as he spoke, unable to meet her eyes. “I just don’t want you to think that I view you as some kind of object or something. I respect you far too much.”

Leslie gently lifted his face, his eyes still refusing to meet hers. “I know that, and that is exactly why I want to do this. It will be like a living Diaphena painting, except, you know, without the horse parts.”

Ben let out a soft chuckle at her words, shyly meeting her eyes. “Are you sure? I don’t want to pressure you into something you’ll later regret.”

“I’m positive.”

A huge smile slowly made its way across Ben’s face as he turned on the camera. “You are so fucking sexy,” he whispered as he crushed his lips to hers in a passionate kiss before photographing his wife’s supple, naked body.

The camera made a few reappearances during that trip, catching them both in various stages of undress. Leslie took more pictures of Ben’s bare ass than he thought necessary, but she enthusiastically denied such a thing as “too much” when it came to that part of his anatomy.

“I have to start collecting photos  for the 2013 edition of the top ten Ben’s butt slideshow. Maybe _The Huffington Post_ will actually run it this time. ”

“Oh, God.”

All in all, it had been an exercise in trust and respect that took their relationship to a level higher than they had thought possible.  But again, that’s what marriage is, isn’t it?

 

 

~~~

 

 

Ben’s thoughts drifted back to the present and he realized that he might have spent too much time lingering over Leslie’s gift instead of reviewing those proposals. He let out a deep sigh and ran his hands through his hair.

“I will never be able to read through all of these in time,” he said to himself. Suddenly an idea struck him.

Ben whipped out his phone and sent Tom, April, and Andy a quick text. “Hey. Do you think you guys could drop by my office and give me a hand with something?”

After receiving three affirmative responses, (well two affirmative responses and series of symbols from April that looked suspiciously like a penis) Ben visibly relaxed. Before getting up to tackle the pile of papers that littered his floor, he carefully set up the new picture frame on his desk. A small smile played across his lips as the various  images made their way onto the screen, a continuous retelling of the story that was his and Leslie’s relationship.

His wife really did give the best presents in the entire world.

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
